SS Fatshan (1887)

SS Fatshan (Chinese: 佛山輪) was a passenger ferry steamer operating on the Hong Kong-Canton Line between 1887 and 1933 when she was scrapped and replaced by her namesake, Fatshan (1933). Shortly before scrapping she was renamed Fatshan I.

For other ships with the same name, see SS Fatshan.

SS Fatshan underway on the Pearl River
History
Hong Kong
Name: Fatshan[1]
Namesake: City of Fatshan (now Foshan), Canton Province
Owner:
Builder: Ramage & Ferguson & Company, Leith[3][1]
Yard number: Victoria Shipyard 76[1]
Laid down: 1887
Launched: 31 March 1887[1]
Sponsored by: Hong Kong, Canton & Macao Steamboat Company[1]
Commissioned: 1887
Decommissioned: 1933
Fate: Full ownership acquired by the China Navigation Company in 1906.[2]
Hong Kong
Name: Fatshan
Operator: China Navigation Company
Builder: Ramage & Ferguson & Company, Leith
Acquired: 1906
Commissioned: 1907
Identification: ID / IMO No. 88843[1] / 1088843
Fate: Scrapped in Q4, 1933[1]
General characteristics (as Fatshan)
Class and type: Steam powered ferry
Displacement: 2,260 GRT[4] 1,425 tons[5][1]
Length: 280 ft (85.3 m)[1]
Beam: 54 ft (16.5 m)[1]
Depth: 10.2 ft (3.1 m)[1]
Installed power: 225 nhp
Propulsion: Triple expansion steam engines[2]
Speed: 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph)[4]
Capacity: Over 1,000 passengers
Armament: light arms

Construction and commissioning

Fatshan was commissioned by the HongKong, Canton & Macao Steamboat Company as a passenger steamer to service the Hong Kong to Canton route. She was built in Leith at the Victoria Shipyard by the Ramage & Ferguson & Company and was launched on 21 March 1887.[1] The ship was measured at 2,260 gross register tons[6] and initially was powered by two triple-expansion steam engines capable of producing 173 nhp driving twin screws [1]

Hong Kong Canton Line with the Hongkong Canton & Macao Steamboat Company

After her delivery, Fatshan commenced service with the Hongkong Canton & Macao Steamboat Company, the leading ferry company sailing in the area at the time. At the time of its introduction, Fatshan was well known in the China trade as one of the best passenger steamers sailing the Hong Kong to Canton.[3]

The ship was divided between Chinese and European passengers and owing to the dangers faced by pirates, the ship was armed with small arms and a complement of guards.[7]

Hong Kong-Canton Line with the China Navigation Company

On 18 September 1906, a typhoon struck Hong Kong catching Fatshan in the eastern part of Victoria Harbour near the Taikoo Dockyard. The storm drove Fatshan and several other ships onto the shore of northern Hong Kong island.[8] The ship was refloated by the end of the year.

During the evening of 27 July and into the morning of 28 July 1908 another severe Typhoon struck Hong Kong. During the storm three steam ships were approaching Hong Kong from Canton: SS Ying King of the Sing On Steamship Company, Fatshan and SS Kwong Sai. The three ships sought shelter, dropping anchor at The Brothers north of Lantau Island. Tragically, during the storm, a sudden squall struck the anchored ships and it was reported that after this squall Ying King foundered and disappeared from the view of the other two ships. The sinking resulted in the loss of 421 lives, with only 42 survivors recovered on 28 July by the Customs launch Kowloon Sai.[9]

Later, on 29 November 1908, Fatshan was the subject of a political crisis that took place in Hong Kong and Canton Province after the apparent murder aboard the ship of a Chinese passenger, one Ho Yiu-tiu (also referred to as Ho Tsoi-yin), allegedly perpetrated by a Portuguese crewman. The incident occurred when the steamer was en route to Canton from Hong Kong. Eyewitnesses alleged that they had seen the Portuguese crew member, one Mr. Noronha, a ticket collector, kicking the Chinese passenger following a dispute. Upon arriving at Canton, an autopsy was performed on the deceased by the Canton Red Cross Society which found that the deceased had died from wounds caused by the incident. Soon after, an official inquest was called for. Given that the incident had occurred on board British property, the British Consulate at Canton asserted their right to jurisdiction in the matter.[10] British inquiry also called for a separate autopsy to be performed by a British doctor, who found that the deceased had suffered from heart troubles and that the death was likely due to natural causes; the charge of homicide against Mr. Noronha was to be dropped. These events coincided with a series of incidents of civil unrest ongoing at the time. Coincidentally, the incident caught the attention of the Self-Government Society who called for a boycott of Fatshan and its parent company and also for civic uprising in Canton and Hong Kong. The boycott was successful and eventually led to a private settlement with the Self-Government Society.[11][12]

gollark: Well, "need".
gollark: I really need a second monitor.
gollark: Not very.
gollark: I p r e f e r f i b o n a c
gollark: ~~add backdoors to it~~

See also

References
  1. "FATSHAN". clydeships.co.uk. Caledonian Maritime Research Trust. 2019. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
  2. "Fatshan I". wikiswire.com. WikiSwire. 2019. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  3. William (1890). Marine Engineer and Naval Architect. 11. London: Lloyd's Register of Shipping. ISBN 1231212276.
  4. HongKong Canton & Macao Steamboat Company (1914). Handbook to Canton, Macao and the West River. Hong Kong: HongKong, Canton & Macao Steamboat Company. p. 27.
  5. The Hong Kong Directory and Hong List for the Far East and The China Directory, ed. (1906). The Directory & Chronicle For China, Japan, Corea, Indo-China, Straits Settlements, Malay States, Siam, Netherlands India, Borneo, the Philippines, &c. Hong Kong: The Hong Kong Daily Press Office. p. 1321.
  6. Arnold, Julius (1910). In and Around Canton: Being a Short Description of the Chief Places of Interest to Tourists and Travelers in the City and Suburbs. Bolton, Lancashire: Tillotson & Son. p. 17.
  7. Krout, Mary Hannah (1903). Two Girls in China. New York: American Book Company. pp. 183–187. ISBN 1333751176.
  8. "The Calamitous Typhoon at Hong Kong, 18th September, 1906" (PDF). Hong Kong Daily Press. University of Hong Kong Library. 1906. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  9. The Register of Adelaide, South Australia (31 August 1908, page 6), quoting from the China Mail of 18 August 1908 regarding the details of an enquiry into the tragic loss of HK-Canton steamer Ying King.
  10. Mellor, Bernard (1992). Lugard in Hong Kong: Empires, Education and a Governor at Work 1907-1912. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. pp. 78–84. ISBN 9622093167.
  11. Rhoads, Edward J. M. China's Republican Revolution: The Case of Kwangtung, 1895-1913, Vol. 81. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. pp. 141–143. ISBN 0674119800.
  12. Taikoo by Charles Drage published 1970, pages 170–2
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